Nitish Kumar gives month's salary for green Bihar drive

Giving the green signal to the Harit Bihar Abhiyan Rath Yatra, the chief minister urged ministers and other legislators to also donate a month's salary.

The campaign seeks to involve members of the ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) in planting trees and creating awareness among people.

"I have requested legislators to donate a month's salary to help the campaign to achieve its target," Nitish Kumar said.

JD-U has decided to plant five million saplings over the next two to three years and increase the state's green cover.

Leading the yatra, state JD-U president Vasishth Narain Singh told IANS: "We will visit rural areas to ensure success not just on paper. All the legislators and ministers of the party have been directed to monitor the campaign in their respective areas."
In the first phase, the yatra will cover Bhojpur, Saran and Vaishali districts in the next three days.

The party has asked each of its members to plant at least one sapling. "We have decided to involve all party leaders and workers by tagging it with the party membership drive," he said.

Last month, Nitish Kumar kick-started the green drive from his native village, Kalyanbigha, in Nalanda district. It was he who made the planting of a sapling mandatory for JD-U members for membership to be renewed.

He said the party aimed at enrolling five million members.The drive is an initiative of Nitish Kumar, who was impressed by Dharhara, a small village 230 km east of here in Bhagalpur district.

The village hit the headlines two years ago when the villagers resolved to plant fruit trees, including mango and litchi, to celebrate the birth of every girl child there.

According to official data, only 6.87 percent of Bihar is under forest cover. Forest officials admit that Bihar lost most of its cover when Jharkhand was carved out of it in 2000.
Undivided Bihar had a forest cover of 17 percent.